The Assistant
by Bob Pharrot
Summary: When Lin and Naru returned to Japan after the funeral, Lin at least intended to allow Mai to live a normal life. Naru on the other hand...


I don't own Ghost Hunt and I keep coming back to this fic to rewrite little parts to make it better, this is my first and probably only fic though my sister, kitty-demon18 might do something to continue this so keep your fingers crossed

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She was the third person the temp agency had sent and so far the old maxim "third time's the charm" seemed to be working out.

_Though_, he thought with a hint of bitterness, _we wouldn't have had to go through with all of this if Lin had gone through with my order of rehiring Mai._ But apparently rejecting a girl's feelings the way he did meant that he couldn't rehire her when they returned to Japan.

_It wasn't really rejecting her feelings_, Naru mentally argued, _It couldn't be when she wasn't really confessing feelings for me but for Gene_. He tried not to think about the strange sort of anger that he felt every time he remembered that the pretty, clumsy brunette liked his brother and not him.

Lin's refusal to rehire her, and the discovery that she had apparently moved while they were away so he couldn't call and hire her himself, which meant they had to call a temp agency until they could find someone permanent. Preferably Mai.

The first person the agency sent over had lasted all of a day and watching her leave his office, stomping in outrage, he knew would be one of his favorite memories.

This was because the first person would not shut up. No matter how many icy glares he sent at her, no matter how many times he informed her that she should be working, not gossiping with her friends, she would just smile in what she probably thought was a cute fashion and then continue blabbering to whoever she had on her phone. He and Lin both had enough when she actually invited one of her friends over and the chattering became even louder. Allowing himself to let go ever so slightly and use some of his anger and annoyance on the chatterbox was almost therapeutic. Both the annoyance and her friend were gone in less than thirty seconds.

At least Mai had kept quiet, even when she was raging about his so called 'arrogance' she generally did so in a quiet, almost pleasant mumble. The few times that he managed to provoke her into what was for her a towering rage were more amusing than annoying.

The second person the temp agency, despite having lasted longer, was even worse than the first. He had always vaguely understood that most people were completely incompetent when it came to dealing with the supernatural; it helped him make his living after all. But still, to see a grown man faint at the sight of a vase moving on its own was just pathetic. After all, if Mai, a girl still in high school who had admittedly been somewhat drafted into the job, could not only handle pretty much anything thrown at her but also make herself useful, he expected an adult man who volunteered to deal with this stuff to be able to do the same if not better. The temp was gone before they identified the source of the trouble and the agency they had been using referred him to another place.

The second agency seemed to have learned from the mistakes of its predecessor. The woman they sent over seemed just right.

She was quiet and efficient and instead of sleeping she would read a book until more work was came. She didn't wear any short, distracting, frilly skirts. She didn't fall into holes or have the floor collapse under her or fall asleep during the two cases they went through. She acted almost unnaturally calm in the few cases she accompanied them on. She was properly deferent and never complained when he didn't say please or thank you.

She, however, didn't have that empathy that had made Mai so useful when it came to dealing with clients with children, or really, any client in general. She didn't have any sort of intuition. Ayako and Bou-san both chose not to like her on principle and there was something about her that just annoyed him.

"Hanako, tea." He barked, twitching slightly. He had not asked the woman, or any of her predecessors to make tea but if this woman was going to be a permanent addition to the team than she may as well fulfill Mai's most typical task. He frowned slightly, trying to figure out what it was about this replacement that felt so wrong.

"Yes sir." She said, her voice almost completely monotone. In a few minutes she came in with the tea he had requested.

He took a sip, and promptly set the cup down as he tried not to be sick. What sort of person couldn't make tea?

"Hanako," he called and the woman who was not Mai entered his office, her face a mask of indifference.

"Yes sir?" she asked.

"You're fired." He told her and raised a brow as a huge grin appeared which threatened to split her face in two.

"Thank all that is good, kind and decent!" she squealed and began to practically bounce around in an almost amusing fashion as she packed away her things. When Lin came out to see what the commotion was all about, she shocked him by glomping him and planting a kiss on his cheek.

"You are a saint!" Hanako declared and as she prepared to walk out the door, and hopefully away from them forever, she added,

"And I'll be praying for whoever becomes your permanent assistant. They'll need all the help they can get!" she chirped and with that she was gone, leaving the two men slightly stunned.

"Now can we call Mai?" Naru asked Lin, who was still stunned by the strange girl's uncharacteristic behavior.

"Yes." The older man finally said and Naru chose not to notice the amusement that glinted in Lin's eyes as he went to call the former part timer.

The next day Naru almost smiled when he saw a familiar brunette at her desk, already half asleep.

"Mai, tea." He barked and again he had to stop himself from smiling when he saw Mai almost jump at the sound of his voice. He quickly looked away as she moved away from the desk and revealed that she still wore those distracting skirts.

A little while later, Mai came into his office and put the tea on his desk. She waited for a moment and he pretended to ignore her. When she finally left, grumbling about 'ungrateful, arrogant, narcissistic jerks' he couldn't stop a slight smile from appearing on his face.

He sipped at the tea and looked over at Mai, catching her watching him and couldn't help but feel somewhat pleased when her face became cherry red and the feeling of wrongness left him entirely.


End file.
